The Gift

The gift

By Rocket Girl

Rating: G
Disclaimer: Paramount owns Star Trek. Too bad. Wish they would take care of what's theirs.
Genre: Romance, vignette
Summary: This occurs right after Terra Prime as Trip and T'Pol try to come to terms with Elizabeth's death.

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It had been a week since Elizabeth’s service. Trip was lying in his quarters unsuccessfully trying to review some engineering systems diagnostics. His thoughts drifted to T’Pol. He had hardly seen her since the service and when he did see her, she seemed to be locked in some private grief that he couldn’t penetrate.

Two nights later, Trip was lying on his bunk planning upgrades to one of his engineering systems. The door buzzer sounded. He knew immediately who was on the other side. He felt sudden butterflies jump to life in his stomach as he invited T’Pol in. She stepped in uncertainly, hesitating just inside the door. Trip felt his butterflies turn to dread. This looked like the start of another one of those difficult conversations that would leave him heartbroken.

“What can I do for you tonight?”, he asked.

She paused a moment before answering, “I have something I wanted to give you.”

For the first time, Trip noticed that she was holding a book-sized package in her hand. She held it out for him to take. As their fingers brushed, he could sense a warm, soothing feeling sweep through him. He carefully removed the paper wrapping wondering curiously what was inside. When he saw what it was, his heart nearly stopped. It was a picture frame. It held a picture of him holding Elizabeth with T’Pol at his side, her hand resting lightly on his shoulder. They both had expressions of awe as they looked at their daughter.

Trip looked up at T’Pol with shock and asked, “Where did you get this?”

She replied, “Dr. Phlox took the picture while we were in sickbay. He knew humans have a great need to remember their lost loved ones with photographs. He asked me to give it to you. He knew you would take comfort from it.” As she spoke, her voice cracked slightly.

As he looked into her face, he could see that she was struggling for control. Suddenly she moved toward him. His arms opened automatically as she stepped into his embrace. They stood like that for an extended time, silently comforting each other. After a long while, he pulled back slightly. The look of acceptance on her face caused his heart to pause. He could feel that she was finally accepting their feelings for each other, finally ready for a future together.

For the first time, he knew everything would be OK. He raised his hand and slowly stroked her cheek.

”Will you stay with me tonight?”, he asked. She nodded quietly. They slowly moved over to the bunk and made themselves comfortable in each other’s arms. For now, they were content to just lie together in silence and enjoy each other’s presence. There would be time later to talk and plan and love, but for now, this was enough.

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